Photography for your website: How to get it right - 4th Oct 2017

Images play a very important role in your website, they set the feel and tone and can make an already great design extra awesome.

Let’s talk about a few different types of images that you might need on your website and things to consider.

Images for Call Out Boxes

Ryal Bush Transport are a great example of using their own fantastic images for their call out boxes.

Call out boxes are ‘calls to action’ on your website – boxes that commonly click through to your main service areas. They add visual interest and visually ‘tell a story’ of what that service area is. Be mindful with these that they don’t contain too much white – or whatever your text colour is – as you want them to be as readable as possible. It’s a good idea to have some images earmarked for this part of your design, as the size and shape can be dictated by the design.

If no images are supplied to us prior to the design stage, our designers will often use stock images to illustrate the call outs and banners. These images can be purchased for use on the live site if desired. Using your own images does however build trust with customers viewing your website. We steer clear of using stock photo images that are very generic stock photo images, as they build distrust and actually turn customers away from your website. You know the ones we mean, nobody is that happy-looking typing at a desk, and that person isn’t really a scientist.

Banner Images

These are these classic ‘mail slot’ size images that run across the top of your website. They add to the look and feel of your business and are best suited to being either a high quality panoramic shot, or a close up shot.

Staff Portraits

Most people cringe at the thought of staff photos, but we can’t stress how important it is to showcase the people behind your business, because after all, people do business with people. Some businesses opt for a more formal portrait shot, or some businesses get an ‘in action’ shot. With formal portrait shots, it’s important to get the same kind of background and similar pose, to bring consistency to the website.

Gallery Images

Any other cool images that you have can be popped into your website gallery and this can be turned on for any simple web manager website. From there you can organize them into albums and choose a display layout. A note here – name your photos with good descriptors and titles with search engines like Google in mind. Instead of photo 3, call it what it is eg. Your Business Name’s great new product the amazing whatsitthingamebob. It all helps people find your website online.

Professional photography Option

If all this is sounding like too much, and you don’t know where to start, relax, we have a professional photography option. Many of our clients decide to take their own photos for use on their website, some with great results, however, if you are too busy or wanting to ensure that your website will be looking it’s best at launch, Turboweb have several photographers based around Dunedin and the lower South Island.

It’s better than you think too – those photos become your own – so you can use them across all your marketing collateral and not just on your website. Think LinkedIn, posters, business cards, you name it – they’re your photos.

Our photography packages start from $550 (+GST) plus travel costs and can be tailored to your requirements, including staff portrait images and on-location shots of your business – some photographers even have drones for fantastic building overview shots. Contact us on 0800 887 269 if you’re interested.